Refrigeration of food as a way to prevent spoilage is widely known in the art. Consumers commonly refrigerate food items in a plurality of containers as a method to prevent and slow food spoilage. However, over time, the food contents of the containers will eventually spoil and be thrown away as waste. In some circumstances spoiled food waste may be attributed to a consumer forgetting the date on which a particular container was placed in the refrigerator and therefore failing to consume the food prior to spoiling. In other circumstances, spoiled food waste may be attributed to a consumer forgetting what food items are stored in their refrigerator as containers become placed behind other containers and hidden from view.
Food waste generated due to a lack of information and visibility regarding temperature controlled and non-temperature controlled stored food has many financial and ecological repercussions that have a negative impact on individual families and the planet earth as a whole. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) a typical household in the United States of America throws out 25% of the food they buy, for a family of four this translates to an estimated $1365 to $2,275 monetary loss per year. In addition to the monetary loss, wasting food results in wasting all the resources used for the production and delivery of this food, resources like water, energy and gasoline for transportation, which in turn drives up food prices for everyone.
Therefore, a need exists for novel informative systems and methods for perishable food storage. There also exists a need for novel systems and methods for perishable food storage that are able to inform a user of the amount of time a food item has been stored in a refrigerator. There is a further need for novel systems and methods for perishable food storage that are able to inform a user of the food contents of containers within a refrigerator even if the containers are hidden from view. Finally, there exists a need for novel systems and methods for perishable food storage that are able to provide information on stored food items and reduce the amount of spoiled food waste.